The German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB) warns of an increasing trend among employees Germanyto work despite illness. “Presenteeism, i.e. appearing at work sick, is widespread across all industries,” said Anja Piel from the DGB leadership on Monday in Berlin. Piel responded to an advance by alliance-Boss Oliver Bäte (59). Bäte recommends eliminating continued payment of wages on the first day of illness.
Piel countered that continued payment of wages during illness was a valuable asset given the fact that more and more people were working despite illness. The DGB board member said: “Nobody currently needs proposals that would encourage even more employees to work while sick.”
Dispute over maternity leave
Bäte had suggested reintroducing the waiting day. “This means that the employees would bear the costs for the first day of illness themselves,” the CEO told the “Handelsblatt”. This would reduce the burden on employers. In the Federal Republic – unlike in some other countries – continued payment of wages has been in effect for decades from the first day of illness.
The Allianz boss sees the high level of sickness in Germany as a cost problem. According to the Federal Statistical Office, employees in Germany were on sick leave for an average of 15.1 working days in 2023. The health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit shows an even higher average value for 2023: According to this, well over half of those insured by DAK had at least one sick note from January to December 2023. According to the DAK, there were an average of 20 days of absence per person for the year as a whole.
DGB warns against “presenteeism”
Piel, however, said that the picture regarding sick notes shows no need for action. The trade unionist cited figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that showed no dramatic increase in absenteeism in Germany, neither in comparison with other EU countries nor over time.
“Even before Corona, around 70 percent of employees stated that they had come to work sick at least once a year and that they had worked an average of almost nine working days per year despite illness,” said Piel, citing a representative survey. Presenteeism is harmful to one’s own health and can also lead to the infection of colleagues or accidents – with high follow-up costs.
The IG Metall described it as outrageous and fatal to accuse employees of making people sick. “Anyone who takes maternity leave out of the mothballs is attacking social security and promoting delayed illnesses,” said board member Hans-Jürgen Urban. “The German economy is not recovering with sick employees, but on the contrary with better working conditions.”
Union politicians open to “new ideas”
The Union parliamentary group vice-president Sepp Müller (35; CDU) is open to the idea of employees not receiving wages on the first day of illness. “Our social systems are under increasing strain,” Müller told the news portal Politico. “For this reason, in my opinion, we should not close ourselves off from new ideas and discuss them. Even if the topic of waiting days is not in our election manifesto, this could be a tried and tested approach.”
The health policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Tino Sorge (49; CDU), told the portal: “Only very few people call in sick for fun.” Sorge called for a “sick leave summit” to discuss the situation with the actors involved .
There has been a lot of debate recently about the question of whether German employees stay home sick too often Tesla due to high sickness rates and Unannounced home visits to employees on sick leave had caused a stir. According to plant manager Andre Thierig, around 200 employees at the car manufacturer’s Gigafactory in Grünheide, Brandenburg will not have worked in 2024 because they are on sick leave. At times the sickness rate in Grünheide is said to have reached up to 15 percent. Employees and IG Metall, in turn, criticize Tesla for having too few staff, which is at the expense of the employees’ health.